Year of movements, although without new faces, in the list of the 20 richest people in the world. They repeat all those that were at the end of 2024, but with certain positions exchanged, especially in the first positions. And only one of the 20 members saw his fortune decline. 2025 can therefore undoubtedly be described as a good year for the billionaires who make up this ranking established using Bloomberg data updated as of December 26. Once again, technological titans monopolize the top spots: Elon Musk, founder of Tesla; Larry Page, president of Google; Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle; Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg are the six richest people in the world. Only one Spaniard, Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, appears on the list, in 13th place.
Elon Musk is on the throne for another year, even if he briefly lost it. The fortunes of the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX did not go well with his work in the administration of Donald Trump, a position in which he was surrounded by controversies that ended up affecting his image and that of his electric car company. The decline in vehicle sales has impacted the company’s shares, of which it owns about 12.5%.
But after leaving the White House, Musk’s fortune has only grown in recent months, and he is now the first person to surpass $600 billion in wealth. Concretely, it has 645 billion, compared to 468 billion last year. This spectacular increase is due, in large part, to the rebound of Tesla on the stock market since SpaceX, of which it holds approximately 42% according to various specialized media, reached 800 billion dollars in its latest valuation a few days ago. It is not excluded that Musk will soon cross the 700 billion mark and even reach 1,000 billion dollars. This past year, 75% of Tesla shareholders approved paying its founder a salary of nearly $1 billion in stock to run the company over the next decade, provided he hits a series of goals. And it is also planned to list Space
In the rest of the podium positions there are changes. Second position is occupied this year by Larry Page, who moves up from sixth place. The fortune of the co-founder of Google increased from 173.2 billion to 270.1 billion, helped by the good stock market performance of the technology giant in recent months, particularly after the presentation of the new version of its artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3.0.
The third richest person in the world is Jeff Bezos, who lost one place despite an increase in his fortune from 245.9 billion to 254.6 billion. This year the Amazon founder was the protagonist of many news for his million dollar wedding in Venice, celebrated in the summer. In the fall, the company he founded announced the layoffs of some 14,000 employees, after presenting its third quarter results in which it reported a net profit of 21,187 million.
In fourth position, repeats Larry Ellison, who was the one who briefly succeeded Musk in September due to the sharp rise in the stock market of Oracle, the company he founded and of which he owns around 40%. In one day, the company’s shares soared 36.1% to an all-time high of $328, after it released growth forecasts for the coming years of its cloud storage business, which will be driven by AI. Ellison’s fortune then reached $393 billion, but has since deflated, with Oracle’s valuation, to $251.4 billion. The mogul’s name has been in the news these days due to the hostile takeover bid that Paramount, led by his son David Ellison, launched for Warner Bros, after the latter reached a sales agreement with Netflix. A war in the American audiovisual industry which is still far from over.
In fifth place, after seventh place, is Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, who goes from 163 billion to 251.1 billion. He is followed by Mark Zuckerberg, who loses three positions. The founder of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, increased his fortune from 213.4 billion to 235.8 billion.
Far from the top position he once held, Bernard Arnault is now the richest European in the world. The French businessman, who owns almost half of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the world’s largest luxury group, has not seen his fortune decline this year, as happened in 2024. In 2025, it increased from 176.4 billion to 204.7 billion, thanks to better performance in the luxury sector due to the strength of the American market and the return of Chinese consumers.
Eighth position is in the hands of Steve Ballmer and his 169.8 billion, compared to 151.9 billion last year. The former Microsoft CEO wins a position helped by the tech company’s good progress in recent months. During its first fiscal quarter, which begins August 1, it earned 27.7 billion, or 12.4% more than over the same period in 2024.
Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, continues the climb started in 2024 driven by the development of AI, even if this year the climb was weaker, only three places, up to 9, while in the previous ranking, it had jumped 17 steps. His fortune increased from 122.2 billion to 156.2 billion. The tech executive had a dark day last January when he saw $20.1 billion of his fortune disappear due to the AI chip company’s stock market falling sharply after the emergence of China’s DeepSeek with a seemingly cheaper model. Since then, the company has rebuilt itself, with periods where it doubled in value, and others where the shares suffered a little more.
The top ten is closed by an old acquaintance of this ranking, Warren Buffett, who has been in the same position for two years and has been rich almost all his life. The 95-year-old investor made a surprise announcement in May that he would step down at the end of this year as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, during which his fortune fell from $143.6 billion to $150.7 billion.
Michael Dell, founder of the computer manufacturing company that bears his last name, also reiterates his position, 11th, which in 2024 climbed five positions and saw his fortune increase more than this, which rose from 128.5 billion to 141.3 billion. Other regulars on the list: the Walton brothers, heirs to the Walmart empire. In position 12 is Jim, with 136.4 billion, while Rob repeats in 14 with 133.7 billion and Alice does the same in 15 with 133.000 million. Among this family of millionaires is the richest Spaniard, Amancio Ortega, in 13th place. The founder of Inditex climbs 3 steps and goes from 101.7 billion to 135.6 billion. The textile giant, of which the businessman holds 60% of the capital, recorded its all-time high on the stock market on December 18, reaching a value of 175 billion euros, after presenting third quarter results above all forecasts.
Bill Gates moved from 8th to 16th place, the only billionaire on the list to see his fortune drop from 161.9 billion last year to 117.8 billion today. His profits no longer depend on Microsoft, the company he founded and of which he owns only 1%, but on Cascade Investment, with which he holds stakes in other listed companies, as well as real estate and energy assets.
For his part, Carlos Slim gained one place, going from 18th to 17th place, during a year in which he increased his assets from 81.9 billion to 112,000. With these figures, the Mexican telecommunications magnate and owner of América Móvil is the richest person in Latin America. Mukesh Ambani, the largest shareholder of Indian Reliance Industries, lost a position, while his fortune increased from 91.3 billion to 107.2 billion in one year. On the other hand, Françoise Bettencourt, the French heir to the shares that her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, held in the L’Oréal group, gained one position (19). He saw his fortune increase from 74.6 billion to 92.2 billion.
The ranking ends with a figure on the podium in 2022. When Gautam Adani, founder of the Indian company Adani Group, was on the Olympus of the rich with 121.1 billion, the investment company Hindenburg Research accused him of accounting fraud and manipulation of the prices of his subsidiaries. Although an Indian Supreme Court investigation concluded that the allegations were not credible, the businessman’s fortunes never returned to similar levels. It now stands at 84.5 billion compared to 76.9 billion last year.
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